Background: The increase in chronic and degenerative diseases in the elderly leads to increased and multiple drug usage, which in turn leads to problems associated with adverse reactions and drug interactions.
Material and methods: We analysed the subsample of the National Health Survey 2006, for adults over 65 living in Castile-León (n=458). Using a logistic regression model and correlation analysis the variables having more influence on polypharmacy were evaluated.
Results: A total of 86% of those interviewed claimed to be taking drugs and 93.9% had a chronic illness. The most common health problems included arthrosis, arthritis or rheumatism (53.5%) and hypertension (48.3%), and most frequently used drugs were hypotensives (45%), pain medications (37.1%) and those for rheumatism (21.4%). Both the mean number of illnesses suffered and the drugs consumed are significantly higher in those who claimed to have, "or or fair health, used the health services, had impaired eyesight and hearing, dependent for personal care and domestic tasks, and mobility (P<.05). The variables associated with polypharmacy are three or more chronic diseases (OR=18.3), regular-poor self perceived health (OR=3.4) and females (OR=1.9).
Conclusions: Given the magnitude of the problem it would be appropriate to include a review of the medications in health examinations of the elderly, particularly in women older than 75 years, with regular or self-perceived poor health and who have 3 or more diseases.
2011 SEGG. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.